Ranking the Falcons: No. 4 Roddy White

Wide Receiver Roddy White finishes fourth on the Falcons. Click here to read about how the scoring system for these rankings was devised.

Total Score: 89

Player Grade: 80 out of 100Teams he could start for: 32 out of 32Teams he is best position player: 26 out of 32Teams he could find role on: 32 out of 32Peak-Year Bonus: +1Positional Bonus: +3

With another 1000-yard season, that will give White seven consecutive, a benchmark only achieved by six other receivers in NFL history. That is not only a mark of skill, but also an indicator of durability.

Durability has been one of the keys for White’s success. He’s never missed a game in eight seasons with the Falcons, with Reggie Wayne (182) being the lone active wide receiver in terms of consecutive games played to rank above White’s 128.

While White may take a slight ding to his workload this year due to the potential emergence of Julio Jones, he is still expected to play at a high level. The Falcons were able to incorporate White more as a slot receiver last year than in previous years, which could help continue to benefit him. Being able to utilize his separation skills against what are often lesser cornerbacks in the slot could be a good way to create similar matchup problems to what Jones does on the outside.

Thanks to the coverages that Jones and tight end Tony Gonzalez often can draw, White got many more one-on-one opportunities on the outside. White exploited those to more big plays down the field. After three seasons (2009-11) where he combined to average 12.8 yards per reception, White’s average jumped to 14.7 last year. And given the likelihood that defenses will be even more focused on Jones this year, it will give White a lot more one-on-one opportunities that he can exploit to great effect. And if that results in even better production from White, that could ultimately be a key difference to allow the Falcons to get further in 2013 than they did a year ago.